A classic of French patisserie, this rich walnut cake is, nevertheless, easy to make and can also be served as a pudding with vanilla custard. It should not be confused with the small pale cakes, also called visitandines, sometimes financiers, which are almond-based and use the egg white only.

100 g softened butter
180 g caster sugar
Dash of vanilla essence
2 dessert spoons demerara sugar
4 eggs, separated
120 g walnut halves
100 g flour
Pinch of salt
Orange marmalade

Heat the oven to 150°C and generously butter and flour an 18- to 20-centimetre loose-based cake tin.

Mix the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add essence. Mix the egg yolks with the creamed butter and sugar, beating vigorously for three minutes, so that the mixture does not separate. Keep the five handsomest walnut halves and put the rest with the demerara sugar in the food processor. Whizz until well ground, but before it starts oiling. Fold the nuts, then the flour into the cake mixture, then carefully fold in the egg whites, whisked to firm peaks with the pinch of salt. Spoon the cake batter into the prepared cake tin.

Bake for 45 minutes. Rest the cake for five minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack. Heat the marmalade in a small saucepan. Arrange the five walnut halves on the cake, then glaze with the marmalade spooned through a sieve.

Cook’s note
Not everyone likes marmalade. This cake is also delicious glazed with sieved apricot jam or quince jelly. And you can replace the walnuts with almonds. If you prefer not to glaze the cake, simply sift icing sugar over it before serving. For gluten-free baking, this recipe and the fingerprint biscuits adapt well to gluten-free flour.